4 Tornadoes Confirmed In NJ: Latest Updates From Saturday Storm

Editor's note: This story was updated to reflect the official count of four tornadoes. Three others are under investigation.

NEW JERSEY — The National Weather Service said an EF-1 tornado has been confirmed in South Jersey as weather experts and officials survey the damage from Saturday's line of strong storms.

Four tornadoes touched down in New Jersey, and weather experts are assessing damage in three other Garden State communities.

Some residents are still without power as of Monday morning: Jersey City Power and Light lists just over 3,200 customers without power at 9:30 a.m., many in Ocean and Monmouth Counties. And, schools in Howell and Jackson are closed today as power outages and road closures continue. Related articles:

• Power Outages Remain In Jackson As Tornado Cleanup Continues
• Howell Tornado Hit Aldrich, Ramtown Areas At 135 MPH: Officials
  
• 200 Still Lack Power After 100-MPH Tornado Hits Cinnaminson (PICS)

JCP&L customers who are without power may pick up free water and ice at locations around New Jersey — click here to see a list of locations.

As of Monday morning, the NWS listed four tornadoes which touched down in New Jersey: one in Burlington County (Cinnaminson/Moorestown) and three near the shore: one in Jackson, one in Howell, and one in Sea Girt.

Another storm in Burlington County, which blew through Palmyra and Riverton, was determined to be straight-line winds and not a tornado. The storm in Palmyra and Riverton had max winds of 100 miles per hour according to weather officials.

NWS survey teams still assessing damage in Crosswicks (Burlington), Cream Ridge (Monmouth), and Mays Landing (Atlantic) as of Monday at 8 a.m. No injuries or deaths have been reported, and Monday morning was the latest update.

The scale meteorologists use to classify tornadoes is the Enhanced Fujita Scale. The weaker tornadoes are classified as EF-0 and EF-1 (winds below 11o mph) with the scale going up to EF-5 (winds over 200 mph).

The tornado in Burlington County hit the EF-1 category, with winds of 95-100 miles per hour — this twister's path was 600 yards wide at the maximum, and it traveled approximately six miles.

Cinnaminson, Delran, and Moorestown were all affected by this tornado, which snapped and ripped up trees and also peeled the roof off of a home in Cinnaminson. This tornado lasted from 6:59-7:03 p.m. Saturday, said weather officials.

Howell officials reported winds of 135 miles per hour, which would categorize the storm as EF-2. The National Weather Service has not confirmed this.

Data from the office of the state climatologist shows the year NJ had the most tornadoes was in 1989, when the state measured 19 tornadoes over the course of the year. Data shows that seven of these tornadoes happened on the same day: November 15, 1989.

Since then, the highest annual count was in 2021, when there were 13 tornadoes statewide. This data is published by Rutgers' NJ Agriculture Experiment Station.

Tornadoes were also confirmed in Bucks County, Pennsylvania and Bridgeville, Delaware, the NWS said.

Six Flags Great Adventure and the park's Wild Safari were closed Sunday during cleanup after the severe storm. The Red Cross opened a temporary shelter at the Howell Senior Center.

The damage in New Jersey is part of a larger system that caused destruction from Arkansas to Illinois before moving into Tennessee and across the East Coast, resulting in almost 60 preliminary tornado reports, according to AccuWeather. At least 25 people have died in connection with the severe storms, AccuWeather reported.

Patch's Anna Schier contributed to this report.